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Best Album: Bruce Peninsula’s A Mountain is a Mouth

Albums released early in the year often fade out of memory and miss out on well-deserved slots on end-of-year lists. Bruce Peninsula’s A Mountain is a Mouth, however, was just too remarkable to forget about. Here is what we said about it back in March:

Bruce Peninsula is one of my new favorite artists.  I heard their song, “Steamroller” on WERS at like 1:00 in the morning last week and immediately went to their website to buy their debut album, A Mountain Is A Mouth.

Bruce Peninsula is folk that isn’t afraid to get loud and noisy.  Singer Neil Haverty’s voice isn’t necessarily pretty, but it’s unmistakably earnest and entirely unignorable.  The most immediately noticeable element, however, is the gospel choir that instantly gives each song an epic quality.

I know that 2009 is still very young, but I honestly believe A Mountain Is A Mouth is a solid contender for album of the year.

Honorable Mention: Mew’s No More Stories…

Best Movie: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou are two of my very favorite movies, but 2007’s The Darjeeling Limited left me wondering if Anderson had peaked with Tenenbaums. Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl, is Anderson’s first stop-motion film, and the visual presentation is simply gorgeous. This, combined with Dahl’s endearing writing-style (not just for kids) and Anderson’s hilarious retro quirkiness makes this my favorite movie of 2009 and one of the best moves I’ve seen in a very long time.

Best TV Show: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (season 5)

Anyone still mourning Arrested Development’s untimely demise should find solace in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s dysfunctional family. Dennis, Mac, Charlie, Dee, and Frank (played by Danny DeVito) are all varying degrees of manipulative, incompetent, pathetic, and vain and manage to find new and hilarious ways to engineer their own downfall each episode.

Honorable Mention: 30 Rock (season 4)

Best Video Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

I always get a little nervous when someone tries to remake any kind of classic with a modern twist, but Nintendo has pulled it off beautifully with New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The key update was not to graphics or level design—frankly, they could have just as well left those the same as the NES or SNES Mario games. Rather, the most important inclusion is the 2 to 4-player simultaneous cooperative gameplay, which is both super-fun and relentlessly addictive.

Honorable Mention: Smash Bros. 64 (rereleased on Wii Virtual Console)

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Celebrate with us by checking out this traditional New Year’s song that The Points North just recorded at the Grinding Tapes House!

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The other day I opened my very overpriced Issue of Spin Magazine, the issue with naked pictures of Wayne Coyne, really. Anyway, in the middle of the page titled “hot right now” or something, there was an old familiar face.

That face was Jonathan Pierce.

You see, on one magical evening in the fall of 2003, Eastern University, the school I was attending at the time, hosted a concert in the first floor lounge of my dorm. The headlining band was Cool Hand Luke, but the openers, playing under the light of my desk lamp, were a young Sony signed band yet unknown to me:

That band was Elkland, and they became the rage of indie set at Eastern that year after their brand of new wave pop got the whole party dancing that evening. Two years later, in Chicago, I happened across their full length album in a Virgin megastore. The same day I bought the Wilco classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the thing I couldn’t keep out of my stereo was this sentimental, emotionally open, hook-laced, synth driven pop record.  Right around this same time, The Killers and The Bravery were all over rock radio, but somehow this total gem missed the pop charts.  Hindered by a program which wouldn’t allow it to be played in standard audio players, and prevented file saving or sharing, this album was heard by few. But speaking for myself and a few others, we couldn’t shut it off.

Shortly there after, the newsfeed on the band’s Myspace informed me that Elkland would be no more. Crushing my hopes for a sequel to this closet classic. But two weeks ago, all that changed, from the pages of my overpriced music rag, I discovered that Jonathan has formed a new (and extremely hyped) band called the Drums. Very exciting!

But still, nothing will match the magic of the 2003 dance party, and this gem of a record that just won’t quit.

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My most anticipated release of 2010 has to be Ted Leo’s Matador debut, The Brutalist Bricks, which was recently announced to be released on March 9th.  With that in mind, you can imagine my excitement when I heard the first new cut from the album, “Heroes Have to Die”.  Check it out!

I’m hoping to hear several new tracks when I see him on Friday at UMass Lowell and Saturday at Middle East Downstairs.

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We are very excited to announce that Vinegar Socks’ self-titled debut album is now available in CD and mp3 format our store. Vinegar Socks are establishing themselves as one of the most important indie projects in Italy with their sophisticated and lyrical music that draws from a number of musical forms, including Irish folk, gypsy, and punk. This album is a fully-embellished work of stunning beauty. Check it out!

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The song is “Don’t You Evah” from their totally awesome Gagagagaga record.

The robot is a thing called the Keepon.

Spoon is apparently playing the Orpheum December 4th with Phoenix and Passion Pit.

I really wanna go.

Their new album Transference comes out on January 19th in the states. It’s on the dope-a-licious Merge Records.

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I would have said “Roundabout” by Yes, but that was too big to fit.

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Edinburgh, Scotland’s eagleowl are releasing a new single this upcoming December 14th on Kilter Records. The song is entitled “Sleep the Winter” and will also include the B-side “Laughter.” This band plays drum-free dirges that captivate and enthrall the listener from start to finish. This is music for a sleepless and anxious evening, one of those long winter nights where you wear your thickest socks and mittens, have a long sip of whiskey, wrap your face in a scarf, and walk through the snow and try to understand your existence. Eagleowl is both a place of introspective empowerment and a faithful shoulder to cry on.

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